Snell overpowers Giants to earn 1st W of '22

SAN DIEGO -- New look, new luck.

The Padres broke out some colors never seen before in the franchise’s 54 seasons, just as Blake Snell broke a winless streak that spanned the entirety of 2022.

Snell found his rhythm after Manny Machado’s early three-run home run and tossed six innings of one-run ball in a 6-3 victory over the Giants on Friday night at Petco Park. Snell struck out 11 -- one shy of his season high established last time out and two off his career high -- while improving to 1-5. It also was the Padres’ first victory in the nine games he's started.

Snell broke into the win column wearing the City Connect uniforms debuted by the Padres -- white, pink, yellow and light cyan. The Padres plan to wear the alternate uniforms for every Friday home game the remainder of the season.

They’d like to see this version of Snell at least once a week for the rest of the season, too.

“When he’s getting the ball over the plate and he’s using all his pitches, he’s about as good as any left-hander in the game,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin.

It was only the third time this year that Snell has gone six innings. He allowed three hits -- David Villar’s first MLB homer accounted for the lone run -- and walked two while throwing 108 pitches.

Machado was named the National League’s starting third baseman for the All-Star Game some 2 1/2 hours before first pitch, and it took him only a few minutes to justify the vote.

Giants spot starter Sam Long got into immediate trouble by allowing a leadoff single to Ha-Seong Kim and a double to No. 2 hitter Jake Cronenworth. Machado then smothered a 2-1 changeup, driving it a projected 433 feet, per Statcast, to give Snell three runs to work with.

“I love it. I love pitching with a lead,” Snell said. “Getting three runs right away allowed me to settle in. … I really felt confident.”

After going 3-for-19 with no homers in his first six games back from a left ankle sprain, Machado appears to have regained his footing. He has homered in two straight games and has put three balls in play at 106.9 mph or better.

Like Machado, Snell is finding the statistics swing back his way. Not only has Snell yielded only two runs over 11 innings in his past two outings, but his 23 strikeouts mark his highest total in back-to-back starts at any point in his career.

“When Snell is on, he’s really challenging because he’s got several breaking balls,” said Giants manager Gabe Kapler, whose club has tumbled to .500, 6 1/2 games behind the Padres in the NL Wild Card standings. “Obviously, he was able to get a lot of swing and miss on those.”

Snell was able to get 12 whiffs from his breaking pitches -- eight on curves, four on sliders -- while maintaining his fastball throughout. His 108th and final pitch registered 96 mph. So good were those three pitches that Snell threw only three changeups.

“My other pitches were better,” Snell said. “No need to throw it.”

Sometimes a four-pitch pitcher drops one offering out of necessity. But Snell kept the Giants off-kilter by mixing his top three, and catcher Jorge Alfaro could call for a breaking pitch in any count because Snell could throw them for strikes. Six breaking pitches were called strikes (four curves, two sliders).

“Curve and slider -- sometimes they run together and they’re tough to distinguish between,” Melvin said. “Early in the game, it was the slider. Later in the game, it was the curveball. One’s just a bit slower than the other. One, he’s able to throw for a strike a bit more, maybe the curveball and the slider’s more to chase. But it’s three legit pitches.”

Snell used the breaking balls to end the one Giants threat against him. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, he fell behind 2-1 in the count against Brandon Crawford. Snell got Crawford to chase a slider low and away -- just outside the strike zone. Then came a curve nearly to the same spot, but on the outside edge of the plate and in the strike zone. Crawford swung and missed to end the inning.

“If you can throw them for a strike, it helps a lot,” Snell said of his curve/slider combo. “Then, if you’re throwing the fastball for strikes, too, it just sets everything up. They can’t sit on anything. They have to just go up there, see it and swing.”

And on a night like this, likely swing and miss.